BILLY RAY: “95% Of Screenwriting Is Problem Solving”

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Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games) gave a fascinating quote in an episode of the WGA’s podcast.

“If you are a mechanic, you wouldn’t go to Starbucks for two hours and wait for your muse to tell you what to do with a carburetor. You would just get under the hood, and fix the goddamn carburetor. And 95% of what we do is problem-solving. It’s really not waiting for a moment of artistic inspiration. It’s problem solving. ‘I need this character to get from this place in his arc to that place in his arc. How do I do that?’ And that’s all it is. It’s just grinding. And you want to be the person who does it the most, and the most cheerfully.”

The quote was posted on the screenwriting blog Flying Wrestler by Erik Bork. (One of our top 25 must read blogs) In the article, Bork elaborates on the notion and the result is an extremely interesting read. Especially if you’re stuck on a particular point in your screenplay.